


Name Game

by Rabdom



Category: Lost in Space (TV 2018)
Genre: F/M, Family, Gen, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:02:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22113043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rabdom/pseuds/Rabdom
Summary: "You know, we really should stop just calling him Robot."The Robinsons finally decide that their friendly neighborhood robot needed named something other than what it was. What ensues is a humor filled day of trying to pick out the best names possible for their newest addition.
Relationships: John Robinson/Maureen Robinson, Judy Robinson/Don West, Will Robinson & Robot, Will Robinson & The Robot, Will Robinson/Robot, Will Robinson/The Robot
Comments: 16
Kudos: 114





	1. The Suggestion

**Author's Note:**

> I read a fanfic somewhere about this particular topic, and thought I'd delve a little deeper into it. Plus, I'm still trying to work out each of the character's personalities and make sure I get them right. I plan on writing a few chapters on this since I feel that would be best.
> 
> While this fic is meant to take place in the 2nd season (mostly because, you know, 'No'), it can be considered an alternative universe of the sorts. It's whatever, I guess. ^^; Kudos and comments are loved, and I'd love to heard feedback.

“You know, we really should stop just calling him Robot.”

John’s suggestion came as somewhat as a surprise to the Robinson’s, especially with how nonchalantly he spoke as he poured his coffee. The head of household -- or head of their Jupiter, one would now assume -- had become slightly more accepting of Robot over the past few months than the rest of the family originally thought. Granted, Will wasn’t complaining. But wasn’t Will the one who was supposed to suggest that?

“Why would you say that, sweetheart?” asked Maureen as she strode by him, sneaking his coffee mug from him while he was distracted much to his disdain.

“It’s not like he doesn’t respond to Robot anyway, right?” Penny added as she sat herself down at the table, breakfast in hand.

Said Robot, who stood patiently at the edge of the room and out of the way of the bustling family as they moved about their early morning routine in their Jupiter, glanced at Penny as if to confirm this before locking his sights back on Will. The boy sat happily next to Penny, careful not to ruin an already beat-up looking paperback book as he ate.

“I’ve been thinking about that too, honestly,” Will spoke for what seemed like the first time that morning as he pried his eyes away from his book to glance around the room. “I mean, there’s a lot of other robots like him, right? That’d kinda be like him just calling us ‘human.’” 

"See, that’s what I was thinking,” John replied as he took his seat at the table. “It just seems… wrong, I guess.”

“It’s human nature,” spoke Judy as she shuffled around dirty cooking materials and utensils to be washed later, “to, you know, want to pack with anything that perks our interest or nature. You know, like how we name dogs or ships even though they’re not living.”

“But he is!” Will whined in protest, eyes narrowing.

“He might be living,” Maureen said, “but how do we even know he’s a ‘he’?” At that Penny turned in her chair to glance at the robot.

“ _Are_ you a ‘he’?” she asked. “Or are you a girl like me? ‘Cause that’d be pretty cool if you were a girl, you know.”

Robot stared at her for a long moment before responding promptly with, “No.”

Penny’s face instantly fell into an annoyed state as Will snickered. John was close to spitting out his coffee at that. While it was sometimes hard to gauge Robot’s response and what and how it exactly was responding, it at least was getting better in it’s vocabulary -- no matter how annoyed the Robinsons got as it’s newest word, ‘No.’

“Yeah, well, I didn’t care anyways,” Penny huffed as she turned back in her chair and began working on your breakfast.

“Right,” Judy drawled as she finally took her seat at the table. Penny tried her best to ignore her sister as she ate. “Well, what were you thinking?” Maureen asked John with a raised eyebrow. John seemed to think for a long moment.

“Not sure,” he admitted with a shrug before taking a sip of his coffee. He hissed upon realizing how hot it actually was. “Never thought I’d get the conversation this far, honestly.”

“Isn’t Will the one who comes up with those kinds of ideas, anyway?” Judy asked. “I mean, it’s _his_ ro- er, _friend_ anyway, right?”

“I mean I’ve thought of a few,” Will spoke softly as he took his turn to glance at the robot with a furrowed brow. “But I can’t ever think of one that’s actually good.”

“Like what, honey?” Maureen asked.

“I’ve been thinking maybe something that’s Earthy?” Will spoke slowly, looking down at the table for a long moment.

“Nothing like our names, right?” Penny chortled. “‘Cause I don’t think I could take him seriously if he had a name like Jim or Mark.”

At the comment, chuckling and laughter spread through the room momentarily at that thought of them trying to introduce it to another human -- “Hey, wanna meet our friend, Jim?” -- only for the lumbering robot to come into view. Not to mention, not many of their names would suit a giant, several ton robot from space. Robot watched their conversation almost curiously now, and none seemed to notice it slowly approaching the table as they spoke and squabbled.

“No,” Will giggled in response. “And nothing to do with animals either! Something cool, you know? Like an ancient Greek warrior or something. That’d be cool!”

“I bet I have a few books on ancient history still in my stuff somewhere,” Judy offered. “And maybe we’ll get some ideas from your old kids books too, right?” John offered jokingly, earning a slight glare. Granted, another wave of giggles still erupted momentarily.

“Well, how’s about this,” Maureen sighed, standing now and pushing in her chair. “Since he’s one of us now, why don’t we all come up with some name ideas while we work today, and when we get back here, we’ll get together and see which one he likes?”

Maureen nodded to the robot who now stood closely behind Will, causing both he and Penny to jump at the robot being suddenly behind them. Robot seemed to think for a moment before nodding in what they guessed was approvingly.

“Yes!” Will whooped, launching himself from his chair and dashing out of the room while hollering behind him, “Judy, where’s that book in your room? I need to start looking through names with him!”

“Hey, that’s not fair! You’ll be getting a head start!” Penny whined after her brother as Robot instinctively followed the boy to his destination.

They were quickly followed by a slightly disgruntled Judy who called after her brother, “Will! Please don’t go through my things! Some of those are important. Let me get it for you! Will!”

“What have you done?” John could only groan as Maureen pecked his cheek (earning a joking “Gross!” from Penny) with a kiss.

“We’ll find out at dinner, now won’t we?” Maureen only chuckled as she, too, began to leave for the day. “But I should really get going. We won’t be able to get off this planet if we don’t start early. Love you guys, and have a good day!”

The remaining two’s responses were similar as Maureen left, leaving father and daughter to brainstorm a few ideas and talk about the day they had planned ahead of them before heading out to do their own duties.


	2. The Work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Working your fair share can be a bit of a hassle sometimes, especially when stranded on a foreign planet. But the Robinsons always make due.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Might rewrite this chapter later, but I figured I'd try out more characters here. Hope you enjoy and again, Kudos and comments are loved!

“Hey Don, if you were gonna name someone, what name would you pick?”

At that question, the man fumbled with his end of the steel rod he and Penny had been carting from one of the dismantled, broken ships in the hopes of being recycled somehow. They were lucky it wasn’t too heavy, otherwise it would have hurt had it fallen on one of their feet. He managed to keep a hold of his end, yet not without Penny giving him an annoyed look.

“I -- what? Who wants to know?” Don asked, blinking as they resumed their regular pace.

"My family, I guess,” Penny grunted as they carefully moved down a small incline. “Dad had the idea that we should name Robot since, you know, calling him Robot is just calling him what he is.” Don seemed puzzled for a moment before nodding in understanding -- before becoming confused again.

“How do you know it’s a he?” he asked. 

Penny did her best to shrug as they rounded the corner of one of their little ‘home bases’ on the planet -- though it appeared to be more of a well constructed iron tent of some sorts or a storage area rather than an actual base -- as best she could while holding the rod. “I guess that’s the pronoun that stuck. At least, that’s what stuck with Will.”

“Fair enough,” Don nodded as they maneuvered around a few passer bys with muttered apologizes and curt nods. “But you don’t think they’re like us, do you? I mean, the whole gender difference thing at all. Looks more like they have creators and not parents.”

“Penny, Don! Bring it this way!”

Speaking of whom, Maureen ushered the two as they neared her little work space, many objects shrewen about as she worked on them and tried to make them into something useful. She was a good mechanic, to say the least, and no one questioned what one would consider to be an organized mess. The duo sat the steel rod among its kin carefully as Maureen seemed to inspect it.

“That’s good,” she praised. “Don’t think we’ll need too many more before we’re set.”

Don and Penny both groaned, much to Maureen’s amusement; both knowing that meant _another_ trip back with _another_ metal rod and walking on _more_ unstable ground while they maneuvered around their little campsite.

“Can I at least go sit down first?” Penny protested. “We’ve already got, like, twenty of those things for you today!”

“Twenty? I counted thirty!” Don added.

“You must have been skipping your classes,” Maureen mused with a smirk as she sided eyed her daughter while heading back to the main area of her station, “because the two of you only brought six at most. Robot’s really been outdoing you, really.”

As if it knew it were being prided in it’s work as it was, Robot appeared from around one of the ‘buildings’, no less fifteen or so of those metal rods in its arms. It seemed surprisingly careful to try and not hit anything -- or anyone -- with the protruding ends. And, naturally, Will was not far behind; struggling to keep up while dragging one of the steel rods behind him.

“Be careful, Will!” Maureen called out to her son as Don moved to help the boy and easily ducking under the robot’s load as they passed. “Wouldn’t want to pull something trying to carry something Robot could’ve helped you with!”

“I’m fine! I got it!” Will assured, doing none too well in hiding his somewhat heavy breathing. Yet he did not stop Don from taking the other end and hoisting it up in an attempt to alleviate some of the weight from the eleven year old.

Will was a good kid who really tried; really, he did. But with Judy’s medical knowledge, Penny’s ability and prowess, and his parent’s ability to lead and conquer (as Penny so liked to put it), he often seemed to fall short among the rest of the group. It wasn’t as if he was able to get off planet without help -- which Maureen still felt well conflicted by -- and so tried hard to go above and beyond to help as he could. Perhaps that was the purpose of him finding the robot, in a way, Maureen often mused. He needed someone to help pick up the pieces when he couldn’t do it himself. And that, perhaps, the only reason why it was considered a part of the family -- because it protected the youngest member of the family as if Will were a lifeline, and little would get in the way of it protecting him.

Robot was careful when setting down the rods in its arms atop the rest of the pile, something that most were surprised to see. It turned as Don and Will neared, and quite easily -- yet gently -- plucked it from their arms and set it alongside the rest of the pile.

“And _now_ we’re good,” Penny spoke, raising her eyebrows as she looked to her mother. “Right, mom? I mean, that’s _technically_ more than a little more, right?”

Maureen took a turn at raising her eyebrow as she glanced at her youngest daughter, then to the pile of metal. “I suppose it is,” she nodded. “I guess that means you want some form of payment, right?”

“Think your husband would approve?” Don snickered jokingly -- but was silenced by Penny glaring at him and Will emitting an, “Ew!”

“I was thinking more along the lines of making lunch,” Maureen chuckled as she headed to the main area of her station to tidy up before leaving. “How about stew?”

“First one back to the ship gets to pick what kind!” Will hollered, already turning to rush back to their Jupiter.

“Hey, that’s not fair!” Penny called after him and quickly followed after. 

Robot followed shortly after at an even pace, though startling a few people as it brushed past them. Maureen could only smile after the trio before deciding clean up could wait until later that evening, and offered Don a place at the table as she moved to follow; the man not disagreeing to a free meal.. 

It wasn’t likely that the children could cook well anyhow; years of them making mother’s day breakfast confirmed this all too well.


	3. The Exploration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John and Will spend the rest of their day meandering around the flaura and fauna of this foreign planet, and get mixed up in a littler act of heroism as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the weird ending on this one. Wanted to either start the end of this littler series next chapter, or write out what happens during the events. Feel free to leave what you'd like to see in the comments! Kudos and helpful comments/tips are welcomed

After lunch that day didn't yield too much luck on his end. While they still had enough supplies to last them for at least six months if they rationed things well, Judy neither wanted to fully rely on her medical rations throughout their space journey as to save them for dire emergencies, nor wanted her fellow humans to rely solely on what they already had. They would need to learn how to use what was around them if they were to survive on alien planets, which meant trying to study what was on them. This, of course, meant that family was often the runners when she needed something. John himself didn't mind, as it meant more time with the family and less time around the crowded space of their encampment.

And it wasn't like they _needed_ the Robot with them. John could protect his family easily enough; though he could appreciate the back up. Not to mention, it was highly unlikely Will would allow Robot to be out of his sights for too long after already losing him once.

"Hey, dad, is this it?" Will called from the robot's shoulders, metallic hands wrapped firmly around his ankles as he carefully tore down the hanging plant above him.

Small, light blue flowers sprouted from it every few inches, with a protruding center that seemed to carry fair amounts of pollen. Just as the boy turned the flower in his hands -- he screeched in surprise and laughter as he was dropped suddenly by the robot, grabbed by the shoulders before he could hit the ground and sat down softly on his feet. Had it been a few months earlier, John _might_ have had a heart attack right then and there. Now, he noted as Will happily prodded over to him with the flower in hand and Robot following close behind, he had to say he preferred the machine being with him. While he knew Judy would kill for her younger siblings, there were just some things she couldn’t protect them from herself and needed a little help.

“There was more up in the higher branches,” Will was saying as he looked over the flower in his hand one last time before offering it to his father, “if you want me to climb up and get more.”

“No,” John spoke as he took the flower to look over for himself, “I’d rather make sure these are what Judy needs before uprooting more we don’t need.”

“So keep looking?” asked Will excitedly. John played appearing to mull over the question for a long moment before replying.

“I guess, but mom still expects us back _before_ dinner this time,” spoke John -- yet he was barely through his sentence before Will turned and took off to the nearby foliage to do whatever it was young boys did on an alien planet. “Just stay close!” was John’s last request before sighing and turning -- 

\-- and becoming startled as the robot stood and stared at him for a long moment, as if trying to find the words to speak to him. John’s brow furrowed, and he stared the robot down best he could. He went to speak, to ask if it was ok, but the robot turned and followed Will not a moment after John managed to part his lips. The man could only sigh again -- what were they going to do with that robot, honestly? -- before continuing on his given path. Distantly he could hear Will laughing and talking loudly, mostly to the robot, as they followed as close as they deemed fit to the father’s path.

*******

Their day came to a close when they heard a boom off in the distance. It didn’t sound like one of the Jupiter’s crashing, colliding or what have you. No, it sounded more like terrain than a machine. John almost had a heart attack, thinking maybe he let Will and the robot venture out too far -- but not moments into rocketing down the path towards the sound, John found himself quite literally colliding with Robot as it stepped unknowingly out into his path.

“Dad! Are you okay?” came Will’s frantic tone as he tried to help his father to his feet.

“Yeah, I think I’m fine,” John groaned in reply. “That wasn’t you two, was it?”

“What, that loud booming sound? No! I was worried it came from the Jupiters.”

John groaned internally at that. If it _did_ have something to do with the Jupiters, that could very well mean they were screwed until they fixed whatever the problem was. They didn’t want to try and test however many people could actually fit in a Jupiter in one go in the middle of space, either. And if there were human casualties -- well, John knew for sure he wouldn’t want to be buried on an alien planet his family was going to leave soon, either.

“We should go and check,” John finally spoke, however maintaining more eye contact with the Robot than his son, “in case anyone needs heavy lifting. Just -- Will, stay back when we get there.” 

Will looked confused for a moment, but nodded diligently. The three headed out swiftly, with John leading and Will kept securely between himself and the robot as they headed to where they last heard the sound.

*******

Thankfully, it was none of the Jupiters that sustained any damage; rather, a land mass flush against the rocks had collapsed while a group was exploring, leaving several -- including a disgruntled Judy and slightly panicked Dr Smith -- stuck underneath layers of rock and debris until someone could figure out a way to get them uncovered and out of there. Thankfully, that someone was Don -- or, at least he came up with the idea.

“Hey! John! Will! Big robot buddy! Just the guys I wanted to see!” Don was saying happily as John and Maureen, with their remaining children and the robot not too far behind. 

“Everything’s okay, right?” Maureen spoke first. She appeared calm at the exterior, however it was quite easy for the adults to pick up on her worry for her oldest daughter. “The rocks on the surface are stable? There won’t --”

“Be another seismic activity, it’s fine,” Don cut the woman off before she could continue on her tangent. “From what Judy said, the first was a fluke -- an accident on their part while they were digging around. Judy warned Smith not to move stuff around without checking it out first, but….” Don led off with a shrug as Maureen pushed past him to move closer to the main site.

“But we can get them out ok?” John asked, all the while motioning for Don to follow and for the children to stay. Penny started to whine, and Will’s mouth pursed -- but it was Don to cut them off, stopping the duo so as they weren’t too far from the kids.

“Actually, that’s what I was thinking. Hey Will!” Don turned to the boy now, eyes glancing from him to the robot that stood patiently beside him. “What do you say we use your buddy there to help move some of the rocks, huh? Not like we can move them faster than he can, right?”

It was odd, really. While the humans could just as easily ask the robot to do things, or even ordered at one point in time, it was as if Will was its interpreter of some kind. Sure, the robot could understand them easily. But one would soon come to find out that either the robot could not say no to the boy unless under dire circumstances, or that Will was really the only one it took orders from. Either way, asking Will to ask the robot seemed to yield a higher success rate than if anyone else asked.

“It can’t be that hard, can it?” Will asked as he and the robot seemed to share a look (how the robot could even _have_ a look considering it was missing a face; but the Robinsons could easily tell you otherwise). “Besides, it’s Judy stuck there! You can get her out, can’t you?”

Whether it was sensing the dread Will now had growing within him or simply because it was Will, the robot nodded before turning to Don, as if to say, “Where do you want me?”

“That easy, huh?” Don chuckled to himself. “C’mon, it’s not too far from here. It’s like Will said, it shouldn’t be too hard.”

Granted, one wrong move when moving the car sized rocks could easily crush the people waiting beneath them. And granted, they’d be stuck down there a lot longer if they didn’t get the robot’s help. But everything would end up being okay, right?


End file.
